I’ve gotten as far as to get a MacBook to talk to the ZTE MG478 USB modem. PPP won’t come up yet.

Here’s what I did.

This the current state. The dial script is talking to the modem just fine, but PPP is having unknown trouble.

Jul 11 14:55:18 computer kernel[0]: USBF:    1762. 77        [0x4454100] The IOUSBFamily is having trouble
enumerating a USB device that has been plugged in.  It will keep retrying.  (Port 1 of hub @ location: 0x1d000000)
Jul 11 14:55:22 computer kernel[0]: USBF:    1765.939        [0x4454100] The IOUSBFamily was not able to en
umerate a device.
Jul 11 14:55:26 computer kernel[0]: FTDIUSBSerialDriver:        0 19d2fffe start - ok
Jul 11 14:55:34 computer pppd[355]: pppd 2.4.2 (Apple version 233-16) started by root, uid 501
Jul 11 14:55:37 computer ccl[356]: setting the port speed to 230K
Jul 11 14:55:37 computer ccl[356]: CCLWrite : ATZ13
Jul 11 14:55:37 computer ccl[356]: CCLMatched : OK1310
Jul 11 14:55:37 computer ccl[356]: Dialing without tone
Jul 11 14:55:37 computer ccl[356]: Dialing #777
Jul 11 14:55:37 computer ccl[356]: CCLWrite : ATD#77713
Jul 11 14:55:38 computer ccl[356]: CCLMatched : CONNECT
Jul 11 14:55:38 computer ccl[356]: Communicating at 230400
Jul 11 14:55:38 computer pppd[355]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/cu.usbserial-0000101D
Jul 11 14:56:09 computer pppd[355]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requestsn
Jul 11 14:56:09 computer pppd[355]: Connection terminated.
Jul 11 14:56:09 computer ccl[357]: Hanging up

The setup:

  1. FTDI USB serial driver
  2. Addition of a device in /System/Library/Extensions/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext/Contents/Info.plist (to get FTDI to recognise the ZTE)
  3. touch /System/Library/Extensions
  4. reboot
  5. Go to set up usbserial-xxxxxx port in Network Preferences
  6. Select Sprint PCS Vision as the modem (it’s in the WWAN Pack from Apple)
  7. fill in usename, password, phone (#777)

I unchecked most checkboxes in PPP Options, but there’s still trouble with PPP.

Here is the un-XMLized 🙂 block I added to Info.plist

ZTE MG478 EV-DO USB CFBundleIdentifier com.FTDI.driver.FTDIUSBSerialDriver IOClass FTDIUSBSerialDriver IOProviderClass IOUSBInterface bConfigurationValue 1 bInterfaceNumber 0 idProduct 65534 idVendor 6610